Thursday, May 28, 2009

I have had it on my list of things I want to learn for years and I finally bought the supplies and a great book a few weeks ago. I had some time to sit down and read it this weekend, and I was punching away at my design within about an hour.

I would describe it as a cross between embroidery and rug hooking. I am having so much fun.

I found the book to have better directions in the introduction about Punchneedle than the instructions included with the kit or the punchneedles themselves. I highly recommend getting it too if you want to try this craft. :)

http://www.joanns.com/ has everything you need to get started and they always seem to have a coupon code on the home page that you can use at checkout. I saved 50% off of the most expensive item when I bought mine.

I chose a retro flower design kit for my first project. The image was already stamped on the fabric and is only about 3" x 4" . The perfect size to learn and get hooked as the feedback is fast and fun as the little loops fill up the space as you punch.

I think it is so neat that you are working on the back of the piece and the loops form on the front. You actually flip over your project to see what you are creating!

Here is my design inside the locking 7" hoop. I have begun to fill in the light yellow section.

This is what you see when you are working which is the back and...

Here is what is forming on the front. Look at all the cute little loops!

As you can see, I am having fun as I did all of this in just a couple of hours or so.

I am following the chart to see what sections get punched with the thread colors the kit provides.

Here is the front of the project so far and soon it will look like this...

The Dogs Rule Project 2008 is the brain child of artist, Jill Beninato, who invited 12 other artists to collaborate their efforts to illustrate how and why dogs rule. Each artist created 14 pages to be bound into 14 books. One book was sent to each artist while the 14th book was auctioned off on Ebay in November 2008 and raised $350 for A Place to Bark Animal Rescue. Please click here to see how my page was created.

Please feel free to click on the links above to get a more detailed view of the project and how it was created.

The layout in the magazine is amazing. It spreads across 9 full color pages 152-160.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Hi everyone! I have been having fun this past holiday weekend making little gifts just for fun. It was so fun just to pull out little scraps of paper and yarn and make some art and smiles.

I had two of these brass lockets and made one for each for Melanie and myself decoupaged with Emmitt and Moe!

I also crocheted some more flowers and put them on my refridgerator with two little magnets I got on Etsy last year. I got the cute felt pug magnet from an etsy shop located in Hong Kong and the Emmitt magnet from my friend Kim in AZ. Don't they look cute together?

I also made another pansy!

We also spent the weekend relaxing, gardening and re-organizing our garage. It was so much fun!

Friday, May 22, 2009

I am so excited to introduce two new Pug Rings into my Etsy shop. They are silver-plated adjustable rings with my pug art decoupaged into the settings.

Emmitt says he gives them four paws up with all of his pug toes wiggling!

In other fun news...

I want to thank everyone who played in my give-away contest this week for an issue of the May/June 09 Somerset Studio!

After putting the numbers through random.org, the winner is... Sue and Roscoe of Roscoe's Round Up. Congratulations! Sue, please just email me your name and address and I will get it in the mail to you right away.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

I wanted to show you my new banner I made for my shows this month. Vistaprint.com has new vinyl banners in 3 sizes and indoor and outdoor weights.

Since I already have a large outdoor weight banner, I chose the smaller 3' x 1.6' indoor weight as I thought it would be lighter and easier to hang off of my table.

I am so happy with it, and it was practically free! Vistaprint.com is amazing! Their quality, prices and service cannot be beat!

Another fun thing happened at the show. I got to meet alot of customers that have been with me for over 10 years. Sue S. came to say hello with her 17 year old pug, Mario, and her 12.5 year old baby Mimi. She bought one of my decoupage pictures frames on Ebay that I made in 1998! I have not made them in over a decade. How fun to get this wonderful picture and a note from Sue when I got home telling me that this is her favorite photo of her first pug BB that she keeps in the frame.

BB

Sue with Mimi

Mario

Mimi

I cannot tell you how happy this made me feel. All of the wonderful friends I have made on this journey mean more to me than I can say. Emmitt has opened so many magical doors for me in my life.

Well, I sent them off weeks ago with a smile and good wishes for them to arrive safely and to one day keep a small person warm and happy in their part of the world. I often leave the post office hoping that the package will arrive and imagine what squares they will be combined with to make someone happy.

Wow! I am not only amazed at the wonderful work Knit-A-Square does, but the dedication to keeping everyone around the world really in the loop like we are right there helping them sew the squares together into blankets. Click here to read the past newsletters and subscribe too. They are so inspiring!

In other fun crochet news... I finally got to try out my new book on making crocheted flowers!

Posies

Pansies

I give the book 2 thumbs up on originality and great photographs. However, if you are a beginner, I would not choose this as your first book as there is no glossary of stitches or directions on how to make them if you need help or a reminder. I found myself checking my other books on creating some of the stitches or looking them up online.

Other than that, I had a fantastic time making these little posies and pansies. I will definitely be making more. They are fast and a great way to use up little pieces of yarn in my stash!

What projects do you like to make that you feel are fun and fast? Please leave a comment and let me know. I would love to try them too!

They are available as individual puppets or you can buy them as a set with my children's book, Emmitt & Olive.

After I finished those, I started crocheting some 6 x 9 rectangles for a new charity that I just learned about. HAP makes beautiful afghans for our veterans. They are an all volunteer organization based in Maryland. Click here to learn all about them.

6 x 9 Crochet Rectangles

Speaking of squares for charity, I think I forgot to post my latest batch of "bobble squares" and "circle in a square" Squares for The Knit A Square Charity in South Africa. I have been making these for the last couple of weeks. I did not do them all in one day. :)

I have not had time to start the flowers yet, but I made these stars for Gilbert and my sister's parrotlet, Dunkin. I love both of the books. They are easy to work from and I will make more stuff to show you soon.

Gilbert loves his star!

I love all of these projects because they are small, fast to create and portable. :)

Speaking of portable, I found this great canvas organizer made by Rubbermaid at Home Depot. It is canvas and collapsable with pockets you can form in whatever configuration you would like. I think it is made to store cleaning supplies, but I use it as a portable caddy to take my crochet projects from room to room. I tried to find it online to give you the link, but was unsuccessful. It was under $10 at my local home depot.

I just LOVE containers and can never get enough of them. The Container Store just opened down the street from us and I am just so excited. Look at this cool basket I got there on the grand opening day!What fun things do you use to organize your crafts, studio, home or office? I would love to know.

Pug Notes

Dog Art Studio

About Me

I am often inspired to make lots of different art that is not for sale on my website, www.pugnotes.com. I make it because I feel a spark of inspiration that brings me joy from the concept to completion of my project. I would love to share that spark.
This is my blog.
Enjoy!
Melissa